There is an interesting article on the BBC Footy Website in the NL section titled,, 'When promotion could mean relegation, National League trio may be forced to install grass pitches,'.. sorry but I don't know how to post the article on to the forum.

Unless I'm missing something, it doesn't make sense that if a club wins promotion from the national League to League 2 with a plastic pitch that if they refuse to change to grass they are relegated to National North/South. Why can't they simply stay in National League if that league's rules allow it? Very strange and illogical?

coltranUnless I'm missing something, it doesn't make sense that if a club wins promotion from the national League to League 2 with a plastic pitch that if they refuse to change to grass they are relegated to National North/South. Why can't they simply stay in National League if that league's rules allow it? Very strange and illogical?

coltranUnless I'm missing something, it doesn't make sense that if a club wins promotion from the national League to League 2 with a plastic pitch that if they refuse to change to grass they are relegated to National North/South. Why can't they simply stay in National League if that league's rules allow it? Very strange and illogical?

I can only assume it is to make sure NL teams are 'serious' about getting promoted and meeting L2 criteria

Yes they should be relegated if the will not fulfill Football League rules. It would be unfair on teams promoted from NL north/south to be denied their rightful promotion by teams who will not comply to FL rules.

Don’t see the big issue especially in league 1 & 2, far less chance of postponement, they are great surfaces to play football on. Interestingly the majority of Top pitches are part synthetic to ensure the best possible playing surface.

coltranSo why are clubs with plastic pitches allowed into the National Leagues in the first place? The ruling is totally nonsensical and illogical

Because no artificial surfaces are a FL rule, they have artificial pitches to save on upkeep. All 3 will no doubt commit to a pitch change or ground share this week, but the financial reward still outweighs the cost. Interested to see if Sutton would go full time or stay part if promoted.

Man in the MidlandsYes they should be relegated if the will not fulfill Football League rules. It would be unfair on teams promoted from NL north/south to be denied their rightful promotion by teams who will not comply to FL rules.

Man in the MidlandsYes they should be relegated if the will not fulfill Football League rules. It would be unfair on teams promoted from NL north/south to be denied their rightful promotion by teams who will not comply to FL rules.

Well said mate. A point that seems obvious now you mention it

It still doesn't make sense really. If we are expecting National League clubs to behave as League 2 clubs, why the hell are we allowing them to play in the National League with plastic pitches?
Also, if they win promotion to League 2 and are basically denied promotion, why aren't they effectively relegated to the National League (where plastic pitches are allowed) instead of National North or South. In my opinion, the thinking behind this crazy state of affairs is badly skewed. Also any club suffering relegation (effectively a double relegation) to National North/South under these circumstances would surely have such a decision overthrown in a Court of Law on business grounds. Usually, in the courts, common sense and fairness prevails.

It would be easy to spare any L2 teams that would drop down, as a result of any club(s) with a 3G surface getting promoted the drop, then the club(s) with a 3G surface would stay put and the NLN and NLS teams going up would not be affected and could still stay up.

This would negate any reason to deny those teams a rightful promotion from the two feeder leagues.

Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.

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